Devotional

Reflections from Habakkuk

October 3, 2016

Part 3

 The Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and [He] gives it to whomever He chooses. Daniel 4:25b

Our Response

 O Lord, I have heard Your speech and was afraid.   Habakkuk 3:2

Honestly, some of the things on the horizon are frightening. But I believe they are part of a bigger picture of judgment as God takes away the restraints. Listen to what Habakkuk says:

O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.   Habakkuk 3:2

What are we to be doing? Interceding on behalf of our country—asking the Lord to be merciful, and praying for revival: “O Lord, revive Your work!” To revive means to bring back to life. And this is something the church desperately needs. Where is our passion? Where is our intense love for Jesus and constant pursuit of Him? That’s what a revival is—when large numbers of people turn seriously to the Lord. When Jesus is not just a part of someone’s life, but the center of it.

Many American churches have lost the 18- to 30-year-old age group. We need to pray that God will bring back that lost generation and fill the churches again with young people who can become His servants and go out with the Gospel as missionaries and evangelists. Lord, raise up a new generation.

Finally, we need to be praying for those who rule over us, “for kings and all who are in authority” (1 Timothy 2:1-2). Scripture tells us that the king’s heart is in the Lord’s hands (Proverbs 21:1). We can pray for our president, our senators, and our representatives in congress and elsewhere to receive wisdom from the Lord.

Habakkuk declares in the end:

Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls—yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.  Habakkuk 3:17-18

The Lord is on the throne. He hasn’t moved an inch. We are to be rejoicing in the Lord. Our hope is in Him and Him alone.